ANDREW MUCHINERIPI, Vosloorus | Saturday 5.00pm.
SUBSTITUTE Darryl Smith scored with two minutes left to snatch a lucky 2-2 draw for Hellenic against Jomo Cosmos in the final Castle Premiership match of the season for the clubs.
Dikgang Mabalane put Cosmos ahead one minute into the second half of a well- attended match at Vosloorus Stadium on the East Rand and Grant Young levelled with 66 minutes gone.
Cosmos appeared to have captured the three points their territorial dominance warranted when Tebogo Mokoena beat impressive goalkeeper Ryan Braybrooke with a close-range shot 18 minutes from the end.
But Smith claimed his first goal for the Greek Gods with a fierce shot past Simon Gopane from point-blank range after the Ezenkosi failed to clear the ball in a goalmouth scramble.
The result stretched the unbeaten run of Cosmos to 11 matches and moved them into fifth place, above Ajax Cape Town on goal difference. However, the Cape club can finish higher with a win or draw at home to AmaZulu on Sunday.
Hellenic remained eighth and are assured of a place in the BP Top 8, the popular competition which will be relaunched in July with plenty of rand to be contested by the leading league clubs.
This match illustrated once more the depth of talent available to Cosmos owner-coach Jomo Sono as Mozambican international strikers Manuel Bucuane and Nuro Tualibudine were barely missed by a side that created numerous chances.
But they found Braybrooke in superb form and I lost count long before the final whistle of the times Cosmos seemed destined to score before the blond guardian got is body in the way.